Topics

Do I feel so fragile in my world that I feel that without the concepts, my house is weak? Is that why I need them?

Or can I be free? That word, "freedom"—freedom from what? Ask yourself, "Freedom from what?"

Now, you think.... When I talk about the inmates, obviously they see bars all day long. Goodness, the entire time I was in prison visiting them, that’s what I saw too—bars here, and bars there, and bars there and bars there, and bars there and bars there. It all kind of....

The only place where there weren’t bars was the front door—which only brought you to a little reception room, which was a waiting room. To go past that towards the prison, there were bars. And not one—two.

You came through one when they let you. Then you went to the security room, which was in the middle. And only when you had cleared security, that first door closed; second door opened, and you could go through. And then that’ll lead you to a hallway where they handed you your credentials, the one, the pass that you had to wear. This is the same in every prison.

Then you go somewhere else, and they have to open the gate—and they have to open, and a, “Who is it? Who is it?” And, “Who, what?” And, “You have to show your”—“It’s okay; I just was....” “Okay, okay, you can go.”

But one bar after another, after another, after another, after another, after another—well, you don’t live like that, do you? Do you? You don’t have any bars in your life, do you? Nothing that holds you back, right?!

So what’s the difference? You’re locked up too. You don’t think so, but you’re locked up too! And so far you’re locked up, there’s no difference between you and the inmates. The only difference is, they wear orange; you don’t. Unless somebody’s wearing orange here. That’s pretty much the color.

But when all that is gone, and when clarity settles in, heart becomes full, human beings are full of gratitude, then joy dances with you, and you dance with the joy! That elation wells from within—and it’s not conceptual. Not conceptual, not an idea, not a thought, but something very real, that you can begin to rejoice that you’re alive, that you breathe.

- Prem Rawat

People go, "Well, you talk about peace. Tell us how we can be in peace." What I have to say is shocking. Shocking. Why is it shocking? Because you don't have to do anything. Peace is already there inside of you. You don't have to do anything. And if there is anything you have to do, it is to give up the idea of doing anything.

What you will see in the mirror when you hold it in front of your eyes is your own face. When you open your eyes, you will see; you close your eyes, you stop seeing. Will the mirror stop reflecting? No. Will you stop seeing? Yes. What has to happen? Simply, you have to open the eyes. You don't have to wind up the mirror; you don't have to put batteries in the mirror, "Oh mirror, please reflect." No.

Do you realize how simple it is for you if you want to see? Open your eyes. If the lights went out—and I hope they don't—if all the lights went out, would you all disappear? Are you sure? But I won't be able to see you and you won't be able to see me. So we all disappear? No, you're still there. Light doesn't create you. Light allows you to see what is there. That's the value of light.

People think, "Oh yeah, let there be light." Boom, something will be created. No, that's not what light does. For a wise person, enlightenment isn't to have a road free of obstacles. For a wise person, they're not looking, they're not looking for a road free of obstacles. They merely want the light to be able to see the obstacles because they know when they can see the obstacles, it's no sweat to go around it—no sweat whatsoever. But if you can't see, that's when, my friends, stubbing of the toes on those rocks, twisting the ankle on those rocks, is the pain you so desperately hate. You don't like it. And when you get enough of those toe bumps and twists of the ankle, you consider yourself unlucky, and you feel that you don't belong.

Don't pray for a road free of obstacles. Don't pray for that; that's not necessary. Pray for the light, because you've been given the possibility to see. Go this way and go that way. And I guarantee you when you start doing that, you discover new things.

- Prem Rawat

A guitar, a string, and it is out of tune. And in that state, can it be played? Yes. It will follow all laws of physics. But it will sound better when it is in tune.

When was the last time, my friends, you tuned your guitar? If your song doesn’t sound so well, don’t blame the song. Maybe it is your guitar that is out of tune. And without giving it a thought, you are playing, and you’re playing, and you’re playing—but no matter what you do, it doesn’t sound good.

I am here to encourage you to tune your guitar. It’s not that difficult. It’s not that difficult. All you have to know is what it should sound like when it is in tune. And turn the key and strum, strum, strum, strum. When it is in that harmony—harmony, that’s all! That’s the solution to your problems. All of them. All of them.

In you resides your problem, and in you resides the solution. The two are not separated. You are the coin, and you have two sides: that which is the problem and that which is the solution. You cannot have a one-sided coin.

Ignorance is no big thing if you understand that the other side is knowledge. Emptiness is no big thing if you understand—and only if you understand—that the other side is fulfillment. Lies of the world are not a problem if you understand that the other side is the truth. The badness of this world is not a problem if you understand that there is goodness on the other side.

So you may as well play this instrument whilst you’ve got it, because it’s not going to be available again—and I’m talking about this instrument, this time, this life, this existence.

This is a positive message, not a negative message. This is about you, understanding. Not going, “I wonder why that happened to me.” Because it did! It happened to you because it did. It didn’t happen to somebody else. It happened to you because it did.

Now, can you have control over the past? If you had control over the past, it wouldn’t be called “the past,” would it? Past means “passed.” What do you have control over? You have control over what happens today.

Steer it. Make something happen. Make joy happen in your life. Make peace happen in your life. That’s when peace comes, when there is that recognition and understanding within you.

– Prem Rawat

How many of you worry? I’ll raise my hand too—just, it makes it easier for you. Now, please explain to me how worrying is going to take away your problem?

And here’s a good one—look up “worrying” or “worry” in the dictionary—and it’s really funny. It says, “Something that makes you unhappy.” Something that makes you unhappy...?

My goodness! I like to worry. I like to worry! But I never asked the question, “Why am I worrying? Is this actually going to solve the problem?” No! Because, where action will solve the problem, thinking about a possible solution will solve the problem, worrying will never solve the problem—but I like to worry.

And worrying will make me unhappy—that’s according to the dictionary—and I can vouch for that. And yet every time I am faced with a problem, I worry.

And then one day when I was really into worrying—and feeling quite unhappy—and this may come as a surprise to you—I said to myself, “Why do you want to feel unhappy?”

“Yeah, but it, you know, it’s not in my control. I didn’t do it. This is happening to me; it’s other peoples’ fault; it’s, yeah, da-da, the other people are the....”

I said, “No, no, no.” And this is me, having a conversation with myself, silently, by the way. And I’m saying to myself, “No, it’s you. That even in this moment, you have a possibility not to be unhappy.”

And it is taking a more proactive and a positive approach, which is to find the solution to the problem—and if you don’t know it, find somebody who does.

- Prem Rawat

The main thing you know really is, that it’s an irony where we have made our lives so difficult. And it’s not that somebody else has made our lives difficult. We have made our lives difficult. We have taken and gotten ourselves completely lost in explanations and we want everything explained to us. Because we have lost the ability to just observe something and understand it or accept it.

This is how it is. Water is wet. We want to know why is water wet. Water is cold, but we want to know why is water cold. It’s cold because it’s cold.

And to me, really what I do in my reinterpretation of so many things about life and about the problems of life is to put it in a very simple way so that people can just understand it. Because if we can understand the issues that we really have, we can go forward.

We can actually have a pleasant life, we can actually have a meaningful day, every single day in which we feel in touch with what we are all about. It doesn’t need to be this whole frantic stuff that we always … the drama, the trauma that it all gets involved in.

- Prem Rawat

So, my question to you is, “What do you practice?” Because whatever you practice, you get good at it! How long does it take you to become angry? How long does it take you to become angry? That means you practice anger, and you have become good at it! How long does it take you to get confused? That means you practice confusion, and you have become good at it.

How quickly can you lie? That means you practice lying. And you have become good at it. How long does it take you to become frustrated? That means you practice frustration, and you have become good at it.

Practice what is important to you! Practice clarity! Practice consciousness! Practice peace! And you, too, will get good at peace. That’s how simple it is.

– Prem Rawat